In 2009, Mark Grisar participated in one of CineStory’s “fly-on-the-wall” sessions at their annual screenwriting retreat. He sat in a chair and pitched a movie idea to a group of producers, a story about a rapper who switches to “easy listening” music after a failed publicity stunt turns into a near-death experience, and then pretended to leave the room, allowing the producers to discuss his film and pitch candidly as if he wasn’t there. During the conversation, one of the producers said, “I think I can set that up.”

“And all of a sudden, the room just hushed,” Grisar said. “It was something that typically does not happen in a situation like that.”